Issue 9 (January - March 1995)

We have long been awaiting a generation, with hearts as pure and kind as angels, with will-power strong enough to overcome the most formidable obstacles, and minds keen enough to solve all the problems of the age. Had it not been for the persistence of our hope for the coming of such a blessed gene…

The beginning of the 1990s brought talk of a New World Order. Expectations were raised. The world was to be rebuilt on new principles and justice was to be established universally. Years have now passed and expectations have not been fulfilled. The gap between the rich and poor nations continues to…

How much plutonium is being smuggled around the world? What would happen if plutonium was more widely available? Is there sufficient control over nuclear stockpiles? In May 1994, the world received a shock when 6 grams of highly purified (99.7 %) weapons-grade plutonium-239 was found in the house…

Are dreams merely electro-chemical currents passing through the brain? Is there meaning to be found in what we see while asleep at night? Is waking reality any more “real’ than sleeping reality? Does oneirology, the art of interpreting dreams, have any role in the modern world? Dreams have fascina…

At the moment when flowers are dancing, The nightingale sings in gardens secluded. Each of its tunes sounds like the whistling wind To those seen as foreigners in their native land. It cries, like my ceaseless wails and laments, Each resonates, high and low through the slopes It bemoans all n…

Vision Of Light In the holy month of Ramadan, I experienced, in a different mood, one of the many radiances of mystery of the light-diffusing verse, God is the light of the heavens and the earth. It is as follows: I felt in my heart a convincing vision that all living creatures make the same supp…

The lives of al-Ghazali and al-Ansari Abu Hamid al-Ghazali was born in the city of Tus, northern Persia (Iran), in the year 450t-i/1058. His father prayed that his two Sons would become great scholars. Al-Ghazali became ‘the most scholarly person of his generation and the imam of his time’ and hi…

It seems that almost everyday the media brings us news of a disaster and resultant death toll. These events occur throughout the world in various forms. Some results from man’s interaction with the highly artificial environment he has himself caused. They include railway disasters and those on ship…

Occupational stress Working patterns have changed drastically over the last decade with few reaping the benefits of advances in technology. Occupational stress has become a fact of life in most professions. Recently, a British court classified stress as an industrial injury in the ease of a social…

Were the times of death of those who die in a disaster destined to be simultaneous? The appointed time of death is the end of the predetermined life-span of a living creature. This inevitable end-inevitable because every creature that has a beginning must have an end-has been determined before the…

He was one of the first eight persons to accept Islam and one of the ten assured of entering Paradise. He was one of the six persons chosen by Umar to form the council to choose the ruler after his death. His name in pre-Islamic days was Abdu Amr. When he accepted Islam, the noble Prophet called h…

Polarization of Muslim opinion The relationship between Islam and Science has been a point of scholarly discussion for a long time. Seven hundred years ago, al-Ghazali expressed fears that some mathematical knowledge may lead to the denial of God. A similar fear was expressed more recently by the…

Belief in some form of this doctrine of endless cycles of birth, death and re-birth, can be found in almost all societies, primitive or sophisticated. Variations in it exist according to the local and regional differences in faith and popular culture. In the most materialistic societies especially…

A lesson based on a true story It was 1927. The warm days of spring had arrived in the beautiful village of Bark. The fine weather brought visitors from distant lands. One special guest would enjoy the long tranquil summer. She would nest in a high chimney near the mosque and wake to the voice of…